The sharp-winged butterfly enters the stage, and the mango tree is careful! Children eat old leaves, parents eat rotten fruit, invasive or alien species need to be clarified.

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The sharp-winged butterfly enters the stage, and the mango tree is careful! In October, the Keelung Neiliao Community Development Association found an unseen butterfly in the Keelung Neiliao wetlands. It was identified by experts as a common "pointed-winged butterfly" in Southeast Asia. It depends on mango trees from larvae to adults, but does not harm ripe fruit. At present, it is only found in Keelung. Chen Hongbo, head of the plant epidemic prevention team of the Bureau of Prevention and Quarantine, said that whether this is an invasive species or an exotic species has yet to be clarified and has not yet been notified. (for a complete picture of the six-year-old variation of the sharp-winged butterfly, see the end of the article.)

The male pointed butterfly spreads its wings (Photo Source: Shen Jinfeng) Hong Kong street tree regulars come all the way from Xiamen

Shen Chin-feng, executive director of the Keelung Wild Bird Society, said that butterflies generally live on nectar, and few butterflies do not suck nectar, and the sharp-winged butterfly is one of them.

When Shen Chin-feng found it a few days ago, he could not find it in the Taiwan Butterfly Atlas. He forwarded the photo to Huang Xingqi, a teacher of the Taiwan Butterfly Conservation Society. After helping to identify it, he found that it was a sharp-winged butterfly distributed in Southeast Asia and Chinese mainland South China.

Shen Jinfeng said that the most recent record of the sharp-winged butterfly from Taiwan is in Xiamen, while the common species of street trees in Hong Kong is the mango tree, which can also be seen in Hong Kong.

As for how the sharp-winged butterfly came to Taiwan, Shen Chin-feng and experts and scholars believe that the butterfly comes through ships, and there are two possible ways: the first is the "Cosco Star" passenger ship that regularly commutes between Xiamen and Keelung every week, and the second is containers. However, some experts believe that butterflies have a strong ability to fly and may come across the sea.

On the small earthy mango tree in the community (photo source _ Shen Jinfeng) is still in Keelung, but it may fly to Taiwan.

Shen Jinfeng continued to track and observe that there are traces of sharp-winged butterflies in more than 50 mango trees, mainly in the Zhongzheng District, Xinyi District, Zhongshan District and Anle District of Keelung City. The bite marks on the leaves are L-shaped, and the larvae are difficult to identify on the leaves. But pupa molting and female butterflies have been found on several mango trees.

Shen Jinfeng will continue to investigate in Renai District, Qidang District and warm areas in the near future. at present, bite marks have also been seen on mango trees in Xizhi District, and he speculates that they have spread to Shuangbei area. According to the literature, the sharp-winged butterfly has a generation of more than one year and the sixth instar larvae. (see the end of the article for the complete life process.)

Xu Yifeng, a professor in the Department of Life Sciences at National normal University, says that the sharp-winged butterfly is only seen near Keelung and has not yet spread, but generations have crossed, and it is only a matter of time before it spreads to the whole of Taiwan.

The sharp-winged butterfly only loves mango trees, children eat old leaves, parents eat rotten fruit.

Xu Yifeng said that the sharp-winged butterfly depends on mango trees for survival, larvae eat old mango leaves, adults eat rotten fruit, but will not harm mango ripe fruit. "I haven't seen a mango tree that died because of this kind of butterfly," says Hsu. The eating habits of the butterfly do not harm cash crops. Even larvae that eat leaves only eat a small amount of old leaves. Moreover, both larvae and adults will die as long as they inhale a little pesticide.

He said that the sharp-winged butterfly is no different from the ordinary leaf-eating insects, and there is no need to worry at present.

Chen Hongbo, head of the plant epidemic prevention team of the Bureau of Prevention and Quarantine, said that the mango tree in Keelung is not a local cash crop, and it remains to be determined whether it is an invasive species or an exotic species, and has not been notified.

Record of the life process of the sharp-winged butterfly / Shen Jinfeng

The shark-winged butterfly has a generation of more than one year, the diameter of the sixth instar egg is about 1mm, and the egg stage hatches in 6 days (photo source _ Shen Jinfeng)

First instar larva 3~7mm, instar 3 days after hatching, this first instar larva has been feeding on this leaf with bite marks similar to L-shaped, and does not change position until molting (photo source _ Shen Jinfeng)

Second instar larva 7~12mm, instar 4 days (photo source _ Shen Jinfeng)

The 10~18mm of the third instar larva is 4 days old, and the bite marks are similar to L-type (photo source _ Shen Jinfeng)

The 22~32mm of the fifth instar larva is 6 days old. The picture shows the larva that has just molted into the fifth instar (Photo Source: Shen Jinfeng)